Keyboard speakers?

[ChrisAlbertson]

I'm looking for general advice on this

I want to build a pair of speakers for a very specific purpose. It's my experience that when you design something to do only one job well you can have very good cost effective performance.

I want a pair of low to mid power speakers to play solo piano music. That's it. no other usage. Here is why...

I want a pair of "keyboard speakers". These will be connected to an electronic keyboard and driven with a small tube based amp. They will not be used to reproduce recorded music, only live playing. They do not need to be loud, no louder than a real piano played at moderate volume. They do not need to reproduce the sound of a full orchestra, female vocals, drums or the like. Also because they are not playing recorded music "sound stage" is meaningless. These speakers ARE the sound, not a reproduction of a recorded sound. They will be placed very near the keyboard.

I will mostly use them to produce the sound of a grand piano. The thing about pianos is the bass. I think the low A fundamental frequency is about 25Hz. But I'd be happy with a speaker that was flat down to 30Hz.

One thing I want, high on the priority list is to get rid of the "electronic" sound typical of keyboard synthesizers and sound more like the wood and soundboard of a real piano. So I'm thinking of using tubes and maybe a large paper cone driver??? Unlike stereo cabinets these might (??) be best made of "real" wood that could contribute some tone. Again: stereos reproduce recordings and need to be flat and un-colored. I need something to create music and some coloration is OK (maybe?) I need a detailed bass to come through way down to the low notes but I don't need a lot of power.

All advice welcome, thanks.

[MSaturn]

2x Vifa XTWH09-08 + SEAS 22TAFG.

Use a normal box, though. Maybe with the woofers facing in opposite directions and the tweeter on top or something else interesting like that. Course, that's a little avant garde

Building a normal speaker would probably be fine ..

[philiparcario]

what you want needs a huge enclosure. 30hz with volume (105db) using a low powered tube amp is only possible with large enclosures, folded horns. You are asking for a very difficult build. Look into diy fullrange speakers some of them are low powered with low bass. they will be huge. this is low cost but big and it may not go deep enough for you good luck with your quest.

http://www.wildburroaudio.com/speakers.php

[Jason]

Well, your biggest contributor to the quality of the sound is going to be the keyboard itself. It's creating the sound as a source, and if it sounds crappy, I don't know of any amp/speaker that can magically fix that. That being said... if the keyboard itself sounds good, then you probably really do want a speaker that would otherwise be good at reproducing full-range music. A piano has an extremely wide acoustic range, with very low notes as you noted, but also has a lot of overtone/harmonic content. So while you are correct that you probably don't need something with great soundstage capabilities, you will need something that covers the full audio spectrum.

A decent set of powered studio monitors would probably be your best bet. They're convenient in that they have the amp built in and accept standard 1/4" instrument inputs, and most tend to be pretty compact. There are an aweful lot of commercially available monitors now that are relatively inexpensive. If you have a Guitar Center nearby, that's often a good place to see what's available and try them out in their keyboard room.

I assembled the parts to build a pair of the older Alesis M1 Active MkII monitors, and they really surprised me with their sound quality. I let a buddy of mine borrow the to use with his electronic drum set and keyboard, and he said they worked great for both. I have them out on loan to another friend right now to use with his keyboard. I think PE still has the tweeters available, and I've seen a few folks on the Classifieds forum here post the woofers and even the plate amps. Truth is you can probably buy a used pair on ebay a lot cheaper than building them.

[Jason]

After my long-winded post, I figured I should probably make sure we understand what you are going to use it for. Based on your statements that you don't need anything loud, I'm assuming you are intending to use this in a home environment and not for performances with a band. Is that a fair statement? If you will be using this for performances with a band, or even performances in something like a coffee-shop with just vocals, that will probably change recommendations.

[ChrisAlbertson]

After my long-winded post, I figured I should probably make sure we understand what you are going to use it for. Based on your statements that you don't need anything loud, I'm assuming you are intending to use this in a home environment and not for performances with a band. Is that a fair statement? If you will be using this for performances with a band, or even performances in something like a coffee-shop with just vocals, that will probably change recommendations.

Yes. At home or similar small places. If playing with others then I'd use a PA amp and PA speakers run through a mixer.

What I'm looking for here is something to be a serious upgrade to the built-in speakers.

I agree 100% with the statement the sound is only as good as the keyboard's internal electronics. But pro-audio equipment has become affordable. Here is a sample made from a digital capture from the system I'm looking to upgrade too. The latest synthesizers are good, sounds almost real to me

Listen to the MP3 files here if you like
http://www.native-instruments.com/in...85fdf179f49293

[MSaturn]

No wonder you want low-end response, if you're impersonating a bosendoerfer 290 imperial. jesus.

I've gotten to play those a few times, and the low-end is insane

Problem there is, of course, your keyboard probably doesn't have the extra low-end keys!